HOUSTON — Texas Gov. Rick Perry sent a message to evangelicals Saturday: He is a member of the important constituency that he soon may call upon to help him secure the GOP presidential nomination.
Perry hosted what he called a national day of prayer, an event at Reliant Stadium with about 30,000 people that was broadcast on cable Christian channels and the Internet, including in at least 1,000 churches.
“Father, our heart breaks for America,” Perry said in 12 minutes of remarks that included prayer and Bible passages — but no direct mention of politics or his presidential plans. “We see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government and, as a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us.”
He asked Christians to turn to God for answers to the nation’s troubles and asked the audience to pray for President Barack Obama — though he did not use the Democrat’s name — as well as for the American troops killed in the weekend attack on a U.S. helicopter in Afghanistan.
The moment gave Perry a national spotlight before a pivotal voting group in the GOP nomination fight — in the early-voting states of Iowa and South Carolina in particular — as he nears a decision on whether to run for president. His entrance could shake up the field because Perry could attract social and economic conservatives at a time when the GOP electorate appears unsatisfied with the slate of candidates.
As Perry held court in Houston, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann were holding multiple campaign events in Iowa ahead of next weekend’s straw poll, which is a barometer of a campaign’s strength five months before the state’s leadoff caucuses.
Perry has been talking with potential donors, GOP operatives and party leaders about a possible run. But he has been tight-lipped about just when he would announce a decision, though he plans to visit South Carolina, and maybe other states, during the next week.
He plans to keep what aides say is a long- held commitment to headline a conservative conference in Charleston, S.C., on Aug. 13, as well as meet with activists in the state scheduled to host the South’s first primary.
